District Administration - October 2006 - (Page 48)

Education today is really the civil rights issue of our generation. LEADERSHIP CEO Arne Duncan spends one-on-one time with students in Chicago schools. d iocese to think about is that rather their academic and behavioral 2010 initiative, begun two years than closing a school, we could turn standards, and their considerable ago with the aim of adding 100 new it into a charter. autonomy. The district has already schools to the system and helped by Just as iconoclastic are the reached its 30-school limit on char- $1 billion in local and state funding district's eight Fresh Start schools ter schools set by the state, and ear- promised last spring by longtime that are managed in collaboration l ier in the year CPS even consulted Chicago mayor Richard Daley. The with the Chicago Teacher's Union. on a charter school expansion plan Renaissance 2010 schools will The change in governance began for New Orleans in the aftermath of emerge as redesigned and mostly with at least an 80 percent buy-in Hurricane Katrina. smaller versions of underperforming by teachers and continues through schools in the city's neighborhoods. Nontraditional Management an administrative and faculty lead- I just think that the `one-size- ersh ip team, which makes the key Cha r ter schools and all-male acad- fits-all' model of the large American decisions. The union monitors the em ies may not be new to urban edu- high school is fundamentally broken, school's progress every two weeks cat ion, but the district's willingness and I want to create a menu of high and meets regularly with staff from to go full-speed ahead on these ven- school options in every neighbor- the CPS central office. t u res is attracting local and national hood in the city, says Duncan. I No other schools are organized attention. And CPS is trying some want to have six to 10 great options like this in the city, and we've had not-so-familiar strategies as well. in every neighborhood math and other schools ask us, `Can we do Religious-based groups run two of its science academies; performing arts, this?' says Marc Wigler, the part- schools, and Duncan has approached international baccalaureate, and nersh ip initiative coordinator for the Archdiocese of Chicago about single-sex schools; military acad- the union. An earlier pilot program, taking over other schools. em ies a nd then let parents and he points out, produced substantial T hey've been doing great edu- students figure out what's the best gains in student reading scores. cat ion in this city for decades, but learning environment for them. I really give the union tremen- they're closing schools each year due Wit h those alternatives in mind, dous credit for having the courage to declining enrollment, Duncan CPS has become Illinois' most enthu- to step up and do this, and they've observes. What I've asked the Arch- sia st ic proponent of charter schools, 48 October 2006 District Administration chicagoREV.indd 48 9/15/06 1:33:07 PM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - October 2006

Table of Contents
Editor's Letter
Snapshots
Update
Inside the Law
Curriculum Update
Administration Profile
District Profile
Disaster Recovery
Tech Trends
COVER STORY: The Chicago Team
Out Is In
Algebra's At-Risk Solution
Rural Quality
Struggling Readers
The Online Edge
Speaking Out
Principal Opinion
Problem/Solution
Research Corner
Leadership Books
New Products
By the Numbers

District Administration - October 2006